Uttar Pradesh/ˈʊtərprəˈdɛʃ/ (Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश, lit. "Northern Province"), abbr.UP, is a state located in northern India. It was created on 1 April 1937 as the United Provinces, and was renamed Uttar Pradesh in 1950. Lucknow is the capital and Kanpur is the commercial capital and the largest city of Uttar Pradesh. On 9 November 2000, a new state, Uttarakhand, was carved from the mountainous Himalayan region of Uttar Pradesh.

Most of the invaders of North India passed through the Gangetic plains of what is today Uttar Pradesh. Control over this region was of vital importance to the power and stability of all of India's major empires, including the Maurya (320–200 BC), Kushan (100–250 CE), Gupta (350–600 CE), and Gurjara-Pratihara (650–1036 CE) empires.[12] Following the Huns invasions that broke the Gupta empire, the Ganges-Yamuna Doab saw the rise of Kannauj.[13] During the reign of Harshavardhana (590–647 CE), the Kannauj empire reached its zenith.[13] It spanned from Punjab in the north and Gujarat in the west to Bengal in the east and Odisha in the south.[10] It included parts of central India, north of the Narmada River and it encompassed the entire Indo-Gangetic plain.[14] Many communities in various parts of India claim descent from the migrants of Kannauj.[15] Soon after Harshavardhana's death, his empire disintegrated into many kingdoms, which were invaded and ruled by the Gurjara-Pratihara empire, which challenged Bengal's Pala Empire for control of the region.[14]Kannauj was several times invaded by the south Indian Rashtrakuta Dynasty from the 8th century to the 10th century.[16][17]

Due to dissatisfaction with British rule, a serious rebellion erupted in various parts of North India; Bengalregiment's sepoy stationed at Meerutcantonment, Mangal Pandey, is widely credited as its starting point.[28] It came to be known as the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After the revolt failed, the British attempted to divide the most rebellious regions by reorganising the administrative boundaries of the region, splitting the Delhi region from ‘NWFP of Agra’ and merging it with Punjab, while the Ajmer- Marwar region was merged with Rajputana and Oudh was incorporated into the state. The new state was called the 'North Western Provinces of Agra and Oudh', which in 1902 was renamed as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.[29] It was commonly referred to as the United Provinces or its acronym UP.[30][31]

Post-independence

After India's independence, the United Provinces were reorganised as Uttar Pradesh in 1957. The state has provided seven of India's prime ministers and is the source of the largest number of seats in the Lok Sabha. Despite its political influence, it poor economic development and administrative record, organised crime and corruption kept it amongst India's backward state. The state has been affected by repeated episodes of caste and communal violence. In December, 1992 the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya was demolished by radical Hindu activists, leading to widespread violence across India.[36] In 1999, northern districts of the state were separated to form the state of Uttarakhand. [37]

Geography

Uttar Pradesh, with a total area of 243,290 square kilometres (93,935 sq mi), is India’s fifth largest state in terms of land area. It is situated on the northern spout of India and shares an international boundary with Nepal. The Himalayas border the state on the north,[38] but the plains that cover most of the state are distinctly different from those high mountains.[39] The larger Gangetic Plain region is in the north; it includes the Ganges-Yamuna Doab, the Ghaghra plains, the Ganges plains and the Terai.[40] The smaller Vindhya Range and plateau region is in the south.[41] It is characterised by hard rock strata and a varied topography of hills, plains, valleys and plateaus. The Bhabhar tract gives place to the terai area which is covered with tall elephant grass and thick forests interspersed with marshes and swamps.[42] The sluggish rivers of the bhabhar deepen in this area, their course running through a tangled mass of thick under growth. The terai runs parallel to the bhabhar in a thin strip. The entire alluvial plain is divide into three sub-regions.[42] The first in the eastern tract consisting of 14 districts which are subject to periodical floods and droughts and have been classified as scarcity areas. These districts have the highest density of population which gives the lowest per capita land. The other two regions, the central and the western are comparatively better with a well-developed irrigation system.[42] They suffer from water logging and large-scale user tracts.[42] In addition, the area is fairly arid. The state has more than 32 large and small rivers; of them, the Ganges, Yamuna, Saraswati, Sarayu, Betwa, and Ghaghara are larger and of religious importance in Hinduism.[43]

Cultivation is intensive.[44] The valley areas have fertile and rich soil. There is intensive cultivation on terraced hill slopes, but irrigation facilities are deficient.[45] The Siwalik Range which forms the southern foothills of the Himalayas, slopes down into a boulder bed called 'bhadhar'.[46] The transitional belt running along the entire length of the state is called the terai and bhabhar area. It has rich forests, cutting across it are innumerable streams which swell into raging torrents during the monsoon.[47]

Climate

Uttar Pradesh has a humid subtropical climate and experiences four seasons. The winter in January and February is followed by summer between March and May and the monsoon season between June and September.[48] Summers are extreme with temperatures fluctuating anywhere between 0 °C and 50 °C in parts of the state.[49] The Gangetic plain varies from semiarid to sub-humid.[48] The mean annual rainfall ranges from 650 mm in the southwest corner of the state to 1000 mm in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state.[50] Primarily a summer phenomenon, the Bay of Bengal branch of the Indian Monsoon is the major bearer of rain in most parts of state. It is the South-West Monsoon which brings most of the rain here, although rain due to the western disturbances and North-East Monsoon also contribute small quantities towards the overall precipitation of the state.[51][52]

The rain in U.P. can vary from an annual average of 170 cm in hilly areas to 84 cm in Western U.P.[51] Given the concentration of most of this rainfall in the 4 months of Monsoon period, excess rain can lead to floods and shortage to droughts. As such, these two phenomena, floods and droughts, commonly recur in the state. The climate of the Vindhya Range and plateau is subtropical with a mean annual rainfall between 1000 and 1200 mm, most of which comes during the monsoon.[48] Typical summer months are from March to June, with maximum temperatures ranging from 30 to 38 °C (86 to 100 °F). There is low relative humidity of around 20% and dust-laden winds blow throughout the season. In summers, hot winds called loo blow all across Uttar Pradesh.[51]

The state has an abundance of natural resources.[63] As of 2011, recorded forest area in the state is 16,583 km2 (6,403 sq mi) which is about 6.88% of the state's geographical area.[64] In spite of rapid deforestation and poaching of wildlife, a diverse flora and fauna continue to exist in the state. Several species of trees, large and small mammals, reptiles, and insects are found in the belt of temperate upper mountainous forests. Medicinal plants are found in the wild[65] and are also grown in plantations. The Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands support cattle. Moist deciduous trees grow in the upper Gangetic plain, especially along its riverbanks. This plain supports a wide variety of plants and animals. The Ganges and its tributaries are the habitat of large and small reptiles, amphibians, fresh-water fish, and crabs. Scrubland trees such as the babool and animals such as the chinkara are found in the arid Vindhyas.[66][67]

Tropical dry deciduous forests are found in all parts of the plains. Since much sunlight reaches the ground, shrubs and grasses are also abundant.[68] Large tracts of these forests have been cleared for cultivation. Tropical thorny forests, consisting of widely scattered thorny trees, mainly babool are mostly found in the southwestern parts of the state.[69] These forests are confined to areas which have low annual rainfall (50–70 cm), a mean annual temperature of 25-27 °C and low humidity.

Uttar Pradesh has more metropolitan cities than any other state in India.[78][79] The absolute urban population of the state is 44.4 million, which constitutes 11.8% of the total urban population of India, the second highest of any state.[80] According to the 2011 census, there are 15 urban agglomerations with a population greater than 500,000.[81] There are 14 municipal corporations, while Noida is specially administered by a statuary authority.[82]

In 2011, state's cabinet ministers headed by the then Chief Minister Mayawati announced the separation of Uttar Pradesh into four different states of Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Avadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh with twenty eight, seven, twenty three and seventeen districts respectively, later the proposal was turned down when Mulayam Singh Yadav lead Samajwadi Party came to power in the 2012 election.[83]

Uttar Pradesh has a large population and a high population growth rate. From 1991 to 2001 its population increased by over 26%.[85] Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India, with 199,581,477 people as of 1 March 2011.[86] The state contributes 16.16% of India's population. The population density is 828 people per square kilometre, making it one of the densest states in the country.[1]

The sex ratio as of 2011, at 908 women to 1000 men, is lower than the national figure of 933.[1] The state's 2001–2011 decennial growth rate (including Uttrakhand) was 20.09%, higher than the national rate of 17.64%.[87][88] Uttar Pradesh has a large number of people living below the poverty line.[89] Estimates released by the Planning Commission for the year 2004-05 revealed that Uttar Pradesh had 59 million people below the poverty line, the most for any state in India.[89]

The literacy rate of the state according to the 2011 Census is 70%, which is below the national average of 74%.[93][94] While the literacy rate for men is at 79%, it is 59% for women. In 2001, the literacy rate in Uttar Pradesh stood at 56.27% overall, and 67% and 43% for men and women, respectively.[95]

Hindi is the only state-wide official language of Uttar Pradesh. The Hindu people regard their language a very important part of their cultural identity.[42] Hindi is spoken as the first language by 89.43% of the population.[96] Most people in Uttar Pradesh speak a dialect of Hindustani, which in its written forms is referred to as Urdu and Hindi.[97][98]

A large number of other dialects exist. Five distinct dialect regions have been identified. The western part of the state, Rohilkhand and the upper Doab, is home to the speakers of Khari Boli. The lower Doab, which is referred as Braj Bhumi, or the land of Braj, is home to the speakers of Braj Bhasha. Further south, the Bundelkhand region people speaks Bundelkhandi. In central Uttar Pradesh, people speak the Awadhi dialect and Bhojpuri is spoken in the east. Indian states are defined on the languages they spoke, and eastern Uttar Pradesh primarily speaks Bhojpuri and their culture is identical to Bihar. This creates no central identity of Uttar Pradesh.[99][100]Template:Largest Metropolitan Areas of Uttar Pradesh

Urdu has been declared as a secondary official language by the government of Uttar Pradesh in 1989. The official state notifications are mandatory to be published in Urdu. The official Gazette, circulars, notifications, acts of state legislature are required to be published in Urdu. In addition a number of district administrations are required to publish all information in Urdu along with Hindi. These include Meerut, Bareilly, Budaun, Lucknow, Muzaffarnagar and others.[101][102][103][104]

Government and politics

Since Uttar Pradesh sends the largest number of legislators to the national Parliament, it is often considered to be one of the most important states with respect to Indian politics.[105] The state contributes 80 seats to the Lok Sabha and 35 seats to the Rajya Sabha of the Indian Parliament.[106][107] Uttar Pradesh has been called India's under-achiever, because it has provided India with eight prime ministers while remaining a poor state.[108]

Judges and judicial officers are appointed non-politically and under strict rules regarding tenure to help maintain constitutional independence from the government.[42] This theoretically allows the judiciary to interpret the law based solely on the legislation enacted by Parliament without other influences on their decisions. The Deputy Commissioner of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service and assisted by the officers of the Uttar Pradesh Police Service, is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues in each district.[42] The Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, also serves the government.[42] Sectoral development in the districts is looked after by the district head of each development department such as the Department of Public Works, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, etc.[112]

The judiciary in the state consists of the Allahabad High Court in Allahabad, district courts namely the District court of Etawah, the district court of Kanpur Dehat and district courts in each districts as Uttar Pradesh Judiciary, session courts in each district or Sessions Division, lower courts and judges at the taluka level.[113] The President of India appoints the chief justice of the High Court of the Uttar Pradesh judiciary on the advice of the chief justice of the Supreme Court of India as well as the Governor of Uttar Pradesh.[42] Other judges are appointed by the chief justice of the high court of the judiciary of Uttar Pradesh on the advice of the Chief Justice.[113][114]Subordinate Judicial Service is another vital part of the judiciary of Uttar Pradesh. The subordinate judiciary or the district courts are categorized into two divisions viz. Uttar Pradesh civil judicial services and Uttar Pradesh higher judicial service.[42] While the Uttar Pradesh civil judicial services comprises the Civil Judges (Junior Division)/Judicial Magistraes and civil judges (Senior Division)/Chief Judicial Magistrate, the Uttar Pradesh higher judicial service comprises civil and sessions judges. The Subordinate judicial service of the judiciary at Uttar Pradesh is controlled by the District Judge.[42] The district court of Etawah and district court of Kanpur Dehat of Uttar Pradesh serves as the subordinate judicial service of the state.[115]

Crime

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of crimes among any state in India, but still it is one of the safest states to live in due to high population, which makes the actual per capita crime rate low.[116] While, Uttar Pradesh appears to be the most crime-infested state as per the NCRB statistics, the same agency, computing the criminality factor of the state (computed on the basis of crime per lakh of population) states that UP is the 'third-most safe' state in the country to live in. However, the value of human development index in Uttar Pradesh has steadily increased over time.[117][118] As of today, Uttar Pradesh has the second largest Civil police force with 107,840 members, accounting for 9.5% of the total civil police in the country.[119][120]

In the afternoon of 23 November 2007, within a span of 25 minutes, six consecutive serial blasts occurred in the Lucknow, Varanasi, and Faizabad courts, in which 28 people were killed and several others injured.[124] The blasts came a week after the Uttar Pradesh police and central security agencies busted Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists who had planned to abduct Rahul Gandhi. The Indian Mujahidin has claimed responsibility of these blasts in an email sent to TV stations five minutes before the blast.[125][126] The first blast occurred in the premises of the Varanasi civil court and collectorate between 13:05 and 13:07. Two successive blasts occurred in the Faizabad district court around 13:12 and 13:15, closely followed by one at Lucknow at 13:32. Bombs were explicitly targeted at the lawyers who were working in the courts.[127]

On 7 December 2010, another blast occurred at Sheetla Ghat, adjacent to the main Dashashwamedh Ghat, in which more than 38 people were killed and several others injured.[128] The blast came a day after the anniversary of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, in which a mosque was demolished at Ayodhya leading to nationwide religious riots that killed over 2,000 people.[129]

In terms of net state domestic product (NSDP), Uttar Pradesh holds the third largest economy (2011–2012) in India, with an NSDP of Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["..[131][132]

Agriculture is the leading occupation in Uttar Pradesh.[133] Wheat is the state's principal food crop and sugarcane is the main commercial crop.[134] About 70% of India's sugar comes from Uttar Pradesh. State industries are localised in the Kanpur region, the fertile purvanchal lands and the Noida region. The Mughalsarai is home to a number of major locomotive plants. Major manufacturing products include engineering products, electronics, electrical equipment, cables, steel, leather, textiles, jewellery, frigates, automobiles, railway coaches, and wagons. More small-scale industrial units are situated in Uttar Pradesh than in any other state, with 12 percent of over 2.3 million units.[133] With 359 manufacturing clusters cement is top sector of SMEs in UP.[135]

The Uttar Pradesh Financial Corporation (UPFC) was established in the year 1954 under the SFCs Act of 1951 mainly to develop small and medium scale industries in the state.[136] UPFC provides financial assistance to new and existing units undergoing diversification, modernization, expansion, or acquisition of fixed assets such as land, buildings, and machinery.[137] The UPFC also provides working capital to existing units with a sound track record and to new units under a single window scheme.[138] As of July 2012, due to financial constraints and directions from the state government, lending activities have been suspended except for State Government Schemes.[139] Nevertheless, unemployment, corruption and an inconsistent electricity supply remain among the major problems of the state. The state also has "marked income inequality".[134]

In 2009–10, the tertiary sector of the economy (service industries) was the largest contributor to the gross domestic product of the state, contributing 44.8% of the state domestic product compared to 44% from the primary sector (agriculture, forestry, and tourism) and 11.2% from the secondary sector (industrial and manufacturing).[140][141] During the 11th five-year plan (2007–2012), the average gross state domestic product (GSDP) growth rate was 7.28%, lower than 15.5%, the average for all states of the country.[142][143] The state’s per capita GSDP was 29,417 (US$Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".), lower than the national per capita GSDP of 60,972 (US$Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[".).[144] The state's total financial debt stood at Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "[". as of 2011.[145] Labour efficiency is higher at an index of 26 than the national average of 25. The economy also benefits from the state's tourism industry.[146]

The state is attracting foreign direct investment which has mostly come in the software and electronics fields; Noida and Lucknow is becoming a major hub for the information technology (IT) industry. Sonebhadra, a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, has large-scale industries. Its southern region is known as the "Energy Capital Of India".[147] Uttar Pradesh also has the largest number of mobile subscribers in the country, total of 121.60 million mobile phone connections out of 861.66 million in India, according to the telecom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India TRAI, as of May 2013.[148][149][150][151]

The state has a large, multimodal transportation system with the largest road network in the country.[161] The state is well connected to its nine neighboring states and almost all other parts of India through the national highways (NH). It boasts 42 national highways, with a total length of 4,942 km (9.6% of the total NH length in India). The Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation was established in 1972 to provide economical, reliable, and comfortable transportation in the state with connecting services to adjoining states.[162] All cities are connected to state highways, which carry traffic between major centres within the state. Other district roads and village roads provide villages accessibility to meet their social needs as also the means to transport agriculture produce from village to nearby markets. Major district roads provide a secondary function of linking between main roads and rural roads.[163] Uttar Pradesh has the seventh-highest road density in India, (1,027 km per 1000 km2 as of 2002) and the largest surfaced urban-road network in the country (50,721 km as of 2002).[162]

Sports

Popular sports in Uttar Pradesh can be divided into two groups: traditional sports and modern sports of mainly European origin. Athletes from the state have included the field hockey player Dhyan Chand, Olympic shooter Nawab Mian, volleyball player Sanjiv Balian, and the wrestler Anuj.[169]

Traditional sports, now played mostly as a pastime, include wrestling, swimming, kabaddi, and track- or water-sports played according to local traditional rules and without modern equipment. Some sports are designed to display martial skills such as using a sword or ‘Pata’ (stick).[170] Due to lack of organised patronage and requisite facilities, these sports survive mostly as individuals' hobbies or local competitive events. Among modern sports, field hockey is popular and Uttar Pradesh has produced some of the finest players in India, including Dhyan Chand and, more recently, Nitin Kumar[171] and Lalit Kumar Upadhyay.[172]

Education

Uttar Pradesh has a long tradition of education, although historically it was primarily confined to the elite class and religious schools.[178] Sanskrit-based learning formed the major part of education from the Vedic to the Gupta periods. As cultures traveled through the region they brought their bodies of knowledge with them, adding Pali, Persian, and Arabic scholarship to the community. These formed the core of Hindu-Buddhist-Muslim education until the rise of British colonialism.[179] The present schools-to-university system of education owes its inception and development in the state (as in the rest of the country) to foreign Christian missionaries and the British colonial administration.[180] Schools in the state are either managed by the government or by private trusts. Hindi is used as a medium of instruction in most of the schools except those affiliated to the CBSE or the Council for ICSE boards.[181] Under the 10+2+3 plan, after completing secondary school, students typically enroll for 2 years in a junior college, also known as pre-university, or in schools with a higher secondary facility affiliated with the Uttar Pradesh Board of High School and Intermediate Education or a central board. Students choose from one of three streams, namely liberal arts, commerce, or science. Upon completing the required coursework, students may enroll in general or professional degree programs.

Tourism

Uttar Pradesh ranks first in domestic tourist arrivals with more than 71 million,[191][192] owing to its rich and varied topography, vibrant culture, festivals, monuments, ancient places of worship, and viharas. Thousands gather at Allahabad to take part in the Magh Mela festival on the banks of the Ganges.[193] This festival is organised on a larger scale every 12th year and is called the Kumbha Mela, where over 10 million Hindu pilgrims congregate in one of the largest gatherings of people in the world.[194]

The state is sometimes called the 'Hindi heartland of India'.[203]Hindi became the language of state administration with the Uttar Pradesh Official Language Act of 1951. A 1989 amendment to the act added Urdu as another native language of the state.[204] Linguistically, the state spreads across the Central, East-Central, and Eastern zones of the Indo-Aryan languages, the major native languages of the state being Awadhi, Bundeli, Braj Bhasha, Kannauji and the vernacular form of Khariboli.[205]

Cuisine

A typical day-to-day traditional vegetarian meal of Uttar Pradesh, like any other North Indian thali, consists of roti (flatbread), chawal, dal, sabji, raita and papad. Many people still drink the traditional drink chaach with meals. On festive occasions, usually 'tava' (flat pan for roti) is considered inauspicious, and instead fried foods are consumed. A typical festive thali consists of Puri, Kachauri, sabji, pulav, papad, raita, salad and desserts (such as sewai or kheer).

Many communities have their own particular style of cuisines, such as the Jains, Kayasths and Muslims. There are also certain sub-regional delicacies. Awadhi cuisine is world famous for dishes such as kebab, biryani, keema and nihari. Sweets occupy an important place in the Hindu diet and are eaten at social ceremonies. People make distinctive sweetmeats from milk products, including khurchan, peda, gulabjamun, petha, makkhan malai, and chamcham. The chaat in Lucknow and Banarasi Paan is known across India for its flavour and ingredients.[214]

Mughlai cuisine is a style of cooking developed in the Indian subcontinent by the imperial kitchens of the Mughal Empire. It represents the cooking styles used in North India (especially Uttar Pradesh. The cuisine is strongly influenced by the Persian cuisine of Iran, and has in turn strongly similarities to the regional cuisines of Kashmir and the Punjab region.
The tastes of Mughlai cuisine vary from extremely mild to spicy, and is often associated with a distinctive aroma and the taste of ground and whole spices.

Dress

The people of Uttar Pradesh dress in a variety of traditional and Western styles.[215] Traditional styles of dress include colourful draped garments – such as sari for women and dhoti or lungi for men – and tailored clothes such as salwar kameez for women and kurta-pyjama for men.[215] Men often sport head-gear like topi or pagri.[215]Sherwani is a more formal male dress and is frequently worn along with chooridar on festive occasions. European-style trousers and shirts are also common among the men.[215]